After a long bus ride from Chumpon (though I must say it was quite comfortable), we got off at the Lomproyah Bus Terminal near Khoasan Rd. We knew where we were headed as I had screen captured a bunch of hostels and their locations so set off towards Samsen Rd, ignoring all of the taxi touts who got into our faces yelling ‘taxi, taxi, where you’re going?’
Tip – I’ve downloaded an offline map, Maps with Me and this pinpoints our location using GPS and from there we can see where we need to go. You can’t search with the free version of the app, but so far it’s been very handy.
We were determined to get to Shivarin Guesthouse but when we got there, close to 9pm, we found they had shut at eight. Noooooo!
Luckily there was another guesthouse right behind it, Khoasan Baan Thai, and first thing that struck us was how quaint it looked. It seems to occupy a seemingly previous stretch of a drive way, the entrance is even a small white picket fence, and everything is in the open air.
The very friendly reception guy told us there was one room left, a double air-conditioned room (luxury we were definitely not accustomed to) and suggested we check out the room before we booked it. It was brilliant. White washed panels of timber, beds on the floor with towels and covers (another luxury!) and beach themed decor. This is what our beach bungalow on the Perhentians and Koh Tao should have looked like!
We took the room and as we were filling in our details, another guest came in to enquire about availability and was told it was full. We were very lucky!
Shared bathrooms were clean, and there’s hot water (again, another luxury we had learned to live without for the past few weeks). There’s toilet paper supplied (very rare in Thailand) but you just need to place it in the bin and not flush it down (standard practice here).
Beds were comfortable, the flooring in our room was spotless and seemingly new, and the air-conditioning worked well. There were also two bottles of complimentary water on the coffee table!
Sound is a bit of an issue though- there are signs saying that due to the old teak wood sound travels quite a bit, so please be mindful of noise but we didn’t realise we’d hear every zip being done up, every cough and every word of a Skype call go through. Didn’t matter too much though as the girl next door wasn’t too loud.
Breakfast was a welcome change from our standard banana and peanut butter white bread. We received two frankfurts, two pieces of toast, a sunny side egg, and tea or coffee.
Wifi works great, and it’s free. Lionel is currently doing some freelancing work from the air conditioned room – a private office if you will.
The room was originally 690 baht but due to the late arrival, the friendly receptionist offered us 10% discount and then I bargained it down to 600 baht. Win! Considering it includes a cooked breakfast (which can set you back 120 baht each at cafes) this is great value.
All in all, a great stay and we would’ve stayed an extra night except they’re booked out tonight! 🙁
